Good times roll with strong defence

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This article was published 13/08/2018 (2583 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The good times continue to roll for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who after defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 29-23 on Friday night at Investors Group Field find themselves on a bit of a run.

The victory was the Bombers’ third straight, improving their record to 5-3 — tied with the Edmonton Eskimos for second place in the West Division. While back-to-back blowouts over the Toronto Argonauts kicked off the winning stretch, the triumph over Hamilton had a much different feel to it.

Here are five takeaways from Friday’s game:

ANOTHER DAY FOR THE D

QB Jeremiah Masoli entered Friday having thrown for at least 300 passing yards in 11 of his previous 12 games; Jalen Saunders and Brandon Banks were both in the top-5 in receiving yards and the Tiger-Cats run game is among the best in the league.

Yet, the Bombers defence made their opponent look pedestrian for most of the night, with Masoli and Co. racking up just 349 net yards. Banks still had a night — he recorded his second straight 100-yard receiving game with six catches for 106 yards — but the rest of Hamilton’s receivers were held to fewer than 50 yards.

Adam Bighill continues to lead the way, finishing with a team-high seven tackles, as well as a quarterback sack and forced fumble, which was recovered by Craig Roh. Jackson Jeffcoat also had a monster day, breaking off the edge to create discomfort for Masoli all night. He had three tackles and a quarterback sack.

But, of all the notable moments in this game, the most impressive was the defence’s ability to lock it down late in the game, including stopping a potentially game-deciding final drive with 1:22 left in the game with the Bombers clinging to a six-point lead. Far too often, in recent years and even this season, we’ve seen the defence fold when the game is on the line. This time, they wouldn’t allow Hamilton past their own 45-yard line.

It’s the fifth straight game the defence has put together a strong effort, and given the steady improvement over the last month, there’s little reason to believe they’ll slow down.

FANS AID IN FINAL DRIVE

It wasn’t just the Bombers defence that deserves credit for that final stop. On Hamilton’s last drive, twice the noise from the 26,454 strong at IGF caused Hamilton to take illegal-procedure penalties.

Sitting from my perch in the press box, it was the first time I could actually feel the stadium shake. The commotion did not go unnoticed, with multiple players taking to Twitter to share their gratification.

“That last drive was definitely the loudest it’s been this year in this stadium,” Bighill said. “You could definitely tell it threw them off a bit as far as their cadence and their timing. Obviously, that’s a huge advantage to us to be able to time up our pressures and get in the backfield and put pressure on Masoli.”

Added Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea: “If you look right down to the end, that last drive, it was the defence plus the crowd. Kudos to the fans when you can get a couple of procedure penalties in that last drive when they needed a touchdown to win the game and they’re in a time-crunch situation. The crowd was phenomenal, and the defence kept on coming with relentless pressure, so that’s a good combination.”

“Home of the CFL’s Loudest Fans” is painted on the stadium field walls, and Friday it lived up to the reputation.

A ROUGH ROAD AHEAD

Entering the game, the Bombers’ four wins were against opponents deep in the standings, with two victories over Toronto (2-5), Montreal (1-7) and B.C. (3-4). Though Hamilton was 3-4 prior to Friday’s match, the belief was a victory over the Tiger-Cats, a team many believe will compete for top spot in the weak East, would turn whatever critics remained on this year’s outfit.

Hamilton is certainly a talented team, and (potentially) dangerous in every phase — offence, defence and special teams. But, for me, it’s all about the Bombers and the West. Of the 10 games remaining on the schedule, seven are against divisional opponents, with two games apiece against Calgary and Edmonton and three matches with Saskatchewan. It will be what the Bombers are able to do against these three clubs — despite being 3-4, the Roughriders always play hard against their prairie rival — that will ultimately decide their fate, and whether they can lock up a home playoff game.

NICHOLS JEERED BY FAITHFUL

It’s clear the push for Chris Streveler to replace Matt Nichols at quarterback hasn’t fully dissipated yet for some fans. With a tough stretch for Nichols and the Bombers offence that began late in the first quarter and lasted throughout pretty much the rest of the game — with a few bright spots dotted along the way — many were clamouring to see the young rookie pivot take over for the experienced vet.

I suppose there was a case for that, too. Nichols, after orchestrating back-to-back touchdown drives early in the first quarter, struggled to move the ball. After the two scores, only three of Winnipeg’s next 10 drives resulted in points, with two ending with field goals. Of the seven unsuccessful drives, four were two-and-outs, as the Bombers put up a combined 255 yards of net offence.

Still, I wonder why No. 15 doesn’t have a longer leash among some fans. First, the Bombers were leading 19-7 at halftime, so replacing Nichols then just would have been bizarre. Also, inserting another quarterback, especially one as new as Streveler, even with his spurts of success this season, would have been a difficult adjustment for the receivers. Consider players spoke about the period of time it took to get used to Nichols again after Streveler started the first three games.

Most perplexing, though, about the criticism Nichols has faced, not just this game but since he returned from a knee injury, is the fact all he has done is win games since taking over early into the 2016 season. Consider this: in the 37 games since becoming the starter, Nichols is 27-12.

DRESSLER DOWN AND OUT

I wrote a piece last week about the brotherhood among Bombers receivers and how the bond they’ve formed together has led to their collective success. But a big reason for that has been the ability to stay healthy, with only a trade of Adarius Bowman resulting in a shuffle to the starting five.

That is going to change this week, with veteran Weston Dressler expected to miss some time with a lower-body injury. Dressler injured himself after he stretched out for a pass from Nichols in the end zone — just prior to Andrew Harris’s touchdown run in the second quarter. While he was able to continue to hold for Justin Medlock on field goals, Dressler didn’t return to the offence.

Dressler hasn’t put up eye-popping numbers this season — he has 28 catches for 319 yards and two touchdowns — but he’s been arguably the team’s most reliable receiver, and is Nichols’s favourite target. Breaking down his catches this year, he was having a sneaky-good campaign, so he’ll be missed for whatever amount of time he is out.

With Dressler out, rookies Daniel Petermann and Rashaun Simonise got increased reps, with Petermann looking especially strong. But it will be either Corey Washington or Ryan Lankford drawing in as a permanent starter, with practice this week likely determining who is called on. Between the two, only Lankford has dressed for a game, though both are without a catch this year.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton